The Books We Read » Space http://thebooksweread.com Mon, 14 May 2012 18:28:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Dune by Frank Herbert http://thebooksweread.com/2010/02/dune-by-frank-herbert/ http://thebooksweread.com/2010/02/dune-by-frank-herbert/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:10:21 +0000 Cindi http://clarissasbookblog.com/?p=313 Dune sets the stage for an science fiction masterpiece of epic proportions. You have a large, dare I say ‘galactic’ feudal empire ripe with vendettas, politics, religion, destiny, and of course, planetary ecology. You have a child destined for greatness at the center of a massive web of personal agendas and empire wide plotting. When the House of Atreides is ‘given’ the planet of Dune and must prepare to defend themselves from the House of Harkonnen and the Emperor himself, a battle many years in the making unfolds. All this action is beautifully set on a backdrop of a harsh dessert planet rich in the only source of spice for the whole empire, and home to the fierce native Fremen of the planet who have a secret of their own.

All slight sarcasm aside I actually liked this book. It was well written, well paced, and draws an interesting and complex new world. I felt the author did a great job of thinking the plot through and eliminating any large plot holes. (A pet peeve of mine with some science fiction.) I enjoyed the character portrayals, most of them torn between love and duty, and driven by love, fear, loyalty, and hate. I found it interesting the powerful women characters in the book were not wives and liked the way that was portrayed. Some of the most interesting plot lines in the book revolved around the planet itself. On a planet with such small amounts of available water it was very interesting to imagine the incredible importance of it and the ways in which your life would revolve around acquiring, retaining and reusing that precious resource. I have been trying to branch out and get my feet wet in science fiction and only wish I had read Dune at the beginning of my foray, and not towards the end as I’m starting to burn out. Did I love it? Not really, but it is the best science fiction book I’ve read in the last five years (I think) and I will get the next one in the series. I said before I read it I would be done science fiction after Dune, but now I guess I have to find out what happens next. Good heavens, what have I done, I think there are about a million and one books in this series. Ahkk, maybe i’m becoming a fan, ha ha. I’m also a little apprehensive to watch the 1984 film by David Lynch (but how can I not?).

As a side note, I noticed on Wikipedia that (unnamed) ‘scholars’ have compared Dune to Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Ummmmm, Wikipedia said the same thing about Foundation by Isaac Asimov. So I’m beginning to think I just need to read Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and imagine it in space.

]]> http://thebooksweread.com/2010/02/dune-by-frank-herbert/feed/ 1 Foundation by Isaac Asimov http://thebooksweread.com/2009/12/foundation-by-isaac-asimov/ http://thebooksweread.com/2009/12/foundation-by-isaac-asimov/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:28:56 +0000 Cindi http://clarissasbookblog.com/?p=226 Foundation is the first novel in the foundation series. The Galactic Empire is about to fail and Hari Seldon and the new science of psychohistory are attempting to save all human knowledge and bring humanity through the resulting dark ages. I am split on my feelings about this book. I have just as many things that I like as that I don’t like.
For the likes, this book combines all of my favorite things about science fiction. Foundation creates a future world in which to explore questions of humanity, science, and the future. I also loved the premise of psychohistory. There is political intrigue, lots of action, and philosophical discussions of religion, economics and mathematics. It is intelligently and well written. Lots of fun.
For the dislikes, this book jumps through it’s time line from one story to the other with little connection between them. Just when you are getting into a story it ends and you are thrust ahead another couple hundred years. This makes for poor character development and a hard time emotionally attaching to the story. This novel was first published in 1951 and feels slightly dated. There are no women characters to speak of. Also, as soon as I started reading about Hari Seldon’s group the foundation which were building a compendium of all human knowledge I thought, Wikipedia, ha ha.
That being said, I did like it and will be reading more books in the series. I’ve also seen references that the foundation series is loosely based on Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. To me that actually makes it more interesting.

]]> http://thebooksweread.com/2009/12/foundation-by-isaac-asimov/feed/ 0